I haven’t had much of a “break” this winter break. I’ve been pretty busy working on some writing projects, getting caught up with teaching, and dealing with some other stressful things. Mostly “good” stress, but not all good, and stress is still stress.
Anyway, I did have a bit of fun. Among other things, I bought the new expansion pack to The Sims 2, “University.” I’m sure that Samantha is jealous.
As a (near) middle-aged male college professor, I don’t think I’m the typical player of The Sims 2. Still, I find the game a good distraction (beats a lot of what’s on TV nowadays), and I figured that this new “College-themed” supplement would be right up my alley. It’s pretty good, though, like many other things with The Sims, this new supplement makes some pretty weird assumptions.
I understand that you can’t really make an entertaining “game” out of the academic life, so it probably isn’t surprising that “University” is more about the social life of college: the dorms, frat houses, hanging out, and so forth. Sims do have to go to class and they declare majors, and different majors are good for different future careers. Most of the majors seem to correspond well to future careers: being an art major will help your Sim in the artist career path, being an economics major will help in a business career path, etc.
So, what’s the best career path for a literature major? Criminal. I kid you not.
I think I’ll play a literature major. Who knows? Maybe he’ll grow up to be a mob leader.
Oh, and PS: at least the makers of The Sims value literature more than philosophy. The ideal career path for philosophy majors is “slacker.”